Ukrainian forces are lower off behind enemy strains as Russian troops encompass them in Kursk ‘aided by US pausing its intelligence sharing’

Ukrainian soldiers clinging to dwindling territory in Russia‘s Kursk region are being cut off from supply lines as Vladimir Putin‘s troops attempt to encircle them.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces launched a lightning offensive into the Russian border region last August, seizing a chunk of land that Volodymyr Zelensky hoped to use as leverage in ceasefire negotiations.

But the incursion force has sustained significant losses with Russian troops taking back several settlements around the town of Sudzha just days after the US stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv.

Now, Zelensky’s troops still control land east of Sudzha toward Ivashkovsk, but Moscow‘s forces are advancing from the north and south in a pincer movement that threatens to trap them.

The Kremlin is already hailing the battlefield gains as a major victory, with the Defence Ministry claiming its troops had ‘liberated 12 settlements during the offensive… and more than 100 square kilometres of the Kursk region’.

Russia’s Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, personally visited Kursk yesterday and doled out medals to a string of frontline soldiers.

Meanwhile, Kyiv battered targets across Western Russia with a massive drone assault overnight into this morning.

Some 337 drones were downed across the country, officials said, 91 of which were headed for Moscow. At least two people in the Russian capital were killed with another nine wounded, according to regional governor Andrei Vorobyov.

The attack came as Ukrainian officials prepared to present a partial ceasefire plan to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – the latest step in ongoing peace talks.

Today’s meeting follows Zelensky’s disastrous visit to the White House last month, where a bitter spat with Trump and Vice President JD Vance prompted Washington to suspend military aid and halt intelligence-sharing with Kyiv.

Zelensky left the White House last month without signing an agreement demanded by Trump that would give the US access to much of Ukraine’s mineral wealth.

US officials argue that increasing America’s economic interest in Ukraine would serve as a deterrent against future Russian aggression, though Zelensky has thus far declined to sign it, arguing he needs concrete security guarantees.

The Ukrainian President was in Jeddah on Monday to meet Saudi rulers but chose to leave the peace talks with the US to three of his top aides.

In a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of the US-Ukraine talks, Zelensky’s office said he discussed conditions for any permanent peace deal, including the release of prisoners and the return of children Kyiv accuses Moscow of abducting.

The two leaders ‘discussed the possible mediation of Saudi Arabia in the release of… prisoners and the return of deported children’, the Ukrainian statement said.

They also ‘exchanged views on the formats of security guarantees and what they should be for Ukraine so that war does not return again’, it added.

Today, it is up to Zelensky’s trusted diplomats to present Washington with a partial peace plan. 

Ukraine is expected to propose a ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes, as well as the release of prisoners, according to two senior Ukrainian officials. 

The officials also said Kyiv is now ready to sign Trump’s coveted minerals deal – though it is not clear whether any security guarantees have been added.

‘We do have a proposal for a ceasefire in the sky and ceasefire at sea,’ a Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

‘These are the ceasefire options that are easy to install and to monitor, and it’s possible to start with them.’

US Secretary of State Rubio, who was joined in Jeddah by Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz, signalled that the Trump administration would likely be pleased by such a proposal.

‘I’m not saying that alone is enough, but it’s the kind of concession you would need to see in order to end the conflict,’ he told reporters.

‘You’re not going to get a ceasefire and an end to this war unless both sides make concessions.

‘The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine and obviously it will be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to force the Russians all the way back to where they were back in 2014,’ Rubio added, referring to when Russia seized the Crimea peninsula and backed a separatist offensive in eastern Ukraine.

On his plane to Jeddah, Rubio said the US delegation would not be proposing any specific measures to secure an end to the three-year conflict but rather wanted to hear from Ukraine about what they would be willing to consider.

‘I’m not going to set any conditions on what they have to or need to do,’ Rubio told reporters accompanying him. 

‘I think we want to listen to see how far they’re willing to go and then compare that to what the Russians want and see how far apart we truly are.’

Rubio said Trump’s coveted minerals deal could be signed during the meeting but stressed it was not a precondition for the US to move ahead with discussions with either Ukraine or the Russians.

While Rubio meets Ukrainian delegates in Saudi Arabia today, President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is preparing to visit Moscow this week to meet President Putin.

Peskov said the Kremlin would provide timely information on any contacts with Witkoff and expected that the envoy would update the Kremlin on the progress in peace talks between Ukrainian and US delegates in Jeddah.

Meanwhile, European defence chiefs are gathering in France to draw up plans for a ‘coalition of the willing’ to safeguard Ukraine’s long-term security following an eventual ceasefire. 

French officials indicated that representatives from around 30 countries could take part.

Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin will attend for the UK before Defence Secretary John Healey meets opposite numbers from France, Germany, Italy and Poland in the French capital on Wednesday.

Following that, Prime Minister Keir Starmer will lead a call with like-minded allies who have expressed an interest in contributing to or supporting a peacekeeping mission on Saturday. 

Not all the nations involved in the ‘coalition of the willing’ are expected to commit to join a peacekeeping force, although they could offer logistical help for troops in Ukraine or other forms of support.

Sir Keir has stressed the need for the US to provide a ‘backstop’ security guarantee, a commitment to intervene if a European-led peacekeeping mission comes under threat.

But government insiders have warned of a ‘chicken and egg’ situation where nations will not promise troops without US guarantees, but Trump will not make commitments unless Europe steps up to defend itself.